I realize that in my post earlier about all of the things that comprised my retreat I forgot to mention the art class I took at the end which was wonderful.  The teacher showed us many ways of combining text and art and I was so inspired by her wonderful work.  She likes to work small so she can do several pieces at a time.  Below are some of my very beginning attempts at using embossing, graphite powder, crushed pastels, and colored pencils.  The scanner doesn’t reproduce the color and texture very well and also cuts off the lovely white border created by

Neither of my parents were religious people, but they did instill in me an aesthetic appreciation through regular visits to museums and cathedrals and listening to great classical music.  My aesthetic sense was cultivated long before my spiritual sense, of course, now I realize that my spirituality was being shaped through my love of beauty.  So when I did make a formal commitment to a faith tradition, the two things that captivated me were the aesthetic and justice dimensions.  While working at a Catholic high school in Sacramento as a religion teacher and campus minister in 1994, part of my